Naruto: A Land Divided
, also known as and , is an alternate universe story based in the Naruto universe. Originally the story featured a point of divergence at the time of the Nine-Tailed Fox's rampage in Konohagakure, however the creators decided to place the point of divergence as far back as the founding of the shinobi villages to allow for a much larger content shift. Many canon characters from canon make appearances in A Land Divided though not without changes, Ōnoki for example, dies in this AU not long after the Third Shinobi World War while his canon counterpart continues on living. The story focuses on the Five Great Nations, the Land of Iron, Otogakure, and Amegakure as the shinobi world spirals into turmoil and chaos at the hands of the , a mysterious organization with an as-of-yet unrevealed goal. Many of the nations face each other in all out war while secret plots turn governments on there heads with the Fourth Shinobi World War fast approaching. Story The story of A Land Divided is told through a series of open role-plays on the Gaia: Online forums created by the user Desdamin and co-moderated by the user Shinmei-Jigoku, or Zf6hellion. The story is told from the perspective of the characters in third person and has the story separated into arcs which are divided between each other through the use of time-skips. As of the current day there have been three roleplay threads that tell the story of A Land Divided, each of which are now closed. The original ran for a total of 55 pages before the next thread was created, the second thread ran for a total of 19 pages before closing when several users went into inactivity. The third thread ran for 14 pages before closing. Desdamin and Shinmei-Jigoku actively began working on the story again in March 2012 through a Gaia Guild which they use as an archive to store background information and character profiles. They have two stories currently in the works, a mission oriented roleplay set one year after the events of the original RPs focusing on the Fourth Shinobi World War and a prequel RP set during the Third Shinobi World War that will showcase the events that took place, in particular several events that set the war apart from its canon counterpart. *Naruto: A Land Divided *Naruto: ALD Chaos *Naruto: ALD Chaos Returns Introduction Arc The arc begins with individual teams across the various nations preparing or already on the move towards Konohagakure as the Chūnin Exams quickly approach. Much of the character interaction is set upon establishing connections between other characters or forming new connections to create team dynamics. As time passes and more of the foreign shinobi arrive in Konoha, the teams from Iwagakure and Kumogakure clash with their Konoha counterparts before cooling the situation in rather roundabout manners. The plot gets rolling as an unusual group of shinobi start attacking the Genin teams around Konoha while at the same time another force disguises as Konoha shinobi attack a gathering of foreign-nin at the Hokage's office. The following day word of the attack is sent out to the various shinobi nations and their response is unified. A summit of Kage is called to assess the situation, especially as someone so easily broke into Konoha in order to attack one of the largest gatherings of shinobi outside of war. Chūnin Exam Arc Taking place three months after the Introduction Arc, the Chūnin Exams are about to begin and the various teams have their last meetings with friends and family before they embark out to the exam grounds. Kaasage Tachinai lurks among the villagers of Konoha before taking his place at the Jōnin tower in order to watch for the beginning of the exam. With all the teams ready, Harlock Seitohime, the proctor explains the rules of the first exam and what they need to do in order to succeed. With that done, the participants gather at the doors to Goosutotaun, an old village hidden within a massive dome of earth. When the exam begins, the doors open and each team takes a scroll and enters the dome. Kaasage leaves the Jōnin tower and summons his Eien before entering the dome as well through a newly made passage out of view of Konoha's shinobi. The exam initially kicks off without a hitch under the watchful eye of Saith Veels. The Eien slowly scatter through out the dome, attacking individual Genin teams as well as Saith throwing the whole event into chaos. Many Genin end up dead or injured and Harlock Seitohime led a team into the tome in order to fight off the intruders and save the fledgling shinobi. The Eien escape the battlefield having completed their task, meeting up with Kaasage within some caves where they are greeted by Nagano Hisomeru. A fight breaks out yet again, culminating in the latters death but not before he fells at least one of the Eien. Ava Kiroshika, Hinomoto Houka, Tsuki Hakkō, and, Taiyō Hakkō fight it out at the Hokage Monument before each side retreats. On the outskirts of Konoha an ANBU team find the hideout of the Missing-nin attacking the village after its barrier was damaged in a fight between Shio and Ekaterina Kiroshika. The ANBU team, together with the Kazekage Lola Shigetsu and a recovering Taiyō and Iwa Jōnin Mayu Torayama attacked the hideout whilt its present party went out to retaliate. Side Stories The side stories, are generally stories that are tied to the main story of A Land Divided in some manner without taking place in the same event. Many of these side stories have taken the form of short stories that delve into the background of various characters, explaining previous blank spots in their histories that have been left initially vague. In some cases these stories are written out on the Gaia: Online forums. Trivia * A recurring joke made by the players in the roleplay is to compare the AU characters to those of the Canon universe, for example Ryusuke Sanada had been called a fusion between Asuma Sarutobi, and, Kakashi Hatake.